The present disclosure relates generally to beverage containers and lids for beverage containers, and more particularly to beverage containers and lids that cover a portion of the nose to provide a user with improved aroma perception and spill protection.
People consume hot aromatic beverages and other liquid foodstuffs, such as tea, coffee, and soups, in many different settings throughout the day all across the world. In recent years, the global market for aromatic beverages alone has grown to account for almost one-third of the volume of global beverage consumption. For example, more than half of Americans over the age of 18 currently drink at least one cup of coffee a day. The demand for high quality hot aromatic beverages is expected to continue to grow as high quality branded specialty coffee and tea products gain greater market presence.
The demand for specialty beverage products is already so great that the enjoyment of the olfactory and visual aspects of such beverages has become ritualized in modernized countries around the world. Many aromatic beverage enthusiasts even view the aroma of such beverages as equally important, if not more so, than the taste because the aroma of a beverage provides more sensory information, and thus a fuller and richer tasting experience. Accordingly, just as the demand for aromatic beverages has grown and is expected to grow further, so too is the degree to which consumers discriminate between competing beverage products using a multi-modal sensory perception rather than traditional economic factors.
Consumers of hot aromatic beverages are known to prefer to drink such beverages from conventional open-top beverage containers, such as cups, mugs, thermoses, glasses, bottles, bowls, and other drinking vessels having a large central opening defined by a rim extending generally upwardly from a base, because open-top containers provide a more enjoyable sensory experience than do traditional lidded and closed-top containers by directly exposing a user to aroma vapors evolved from a beverage and allowing the user to easily see and control the amount of beverage consumed with each sip.
By contrast, conventional closed-top containers and lids such as lidded or capped disposable cups, travel mugs, bottles, cans, and thermoses, are typically provided with a small hole through which a user drinks and are reserved almost exclusively for on-the-go use because such containers and lids dramatically limit a user's exposure to desirable aroma vapors evolved from the beverage. For example, a person drinking a hot beverage from a lidded disposable cup will typically only be able to perceive one or two of the basic gustatory tastes, such as sweet or bitter, because the lid severely limits or prevents aroma vapors and odor molecules evolved by the beverage from reaching the person's olfactory receptors, which are responsible for the detection and appreciation of aroma. As a result, the person is unable to fully perceive or appreciate the full range of flavors of the drink, making the drink taste more bland than it actually is. In fact, the person may even smell the constituent material from which the lid or beverage container is formed—usually a type of synthetic polymer plastic—instead. While some conventional lids may include a pinhole or other aperture to vent steam, these openings are not sufficient to facilitate perception of aroma by a user as they cause what little aroma may escape to quickly dissipate into the ambient air.
Many traditional closed-top containers and lids also do not provide sufficient space for a user to place the nose while drinking. For example, some lids can have a shallow indentation designed to accommodate a small portion of the tip of a user's nose during each sip. The vast majority of lids, however, have a generally flat surface. In either case, such lids force the user to tilt their entire head further and further back as more liquid is consumed in order to finish the liquid at the bottom of the container. This is not only uncomfortable for the user, but can cause unpleasant or even dangerous results since hot liquids can spill or leak onto the user's clothing and body.
Further, the necessary motion of leaning the head back can cause a user to look away from where they are going while walking or driving, which can lead to very unsafe situations and injure the user or others. Lids provided with a small hole through which a user drinks can also allow hot liquid to flow into the user's mouth with little if any control, and block a user's line of sight to the beverage surface, making it difficult to drink safely or enjoy desirable beverage aromas.
What is needed then are improvement in beverage containers and lids for beverage containers.